NEW DELHI: Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad downplayed the steps taken by telecom operators to self-regulate their services, saying it’s the consumers who need to testify if these initiatives were working or not. On his part, the minister would continue to monitor the call drops situation in the country.

“I don’t understand the self-regulation drive. It’s consumers call to testify. I’ll continue to monitor the quality of service including call drops,” Prasad said at an industry event organized by Assocham ​​ on Friday.

Prasad said that it is in the interest of telecom operators to provide quality services and reinforce their networks and invest in networks whenever required.

India’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel had recently launched a 25% more stringent voluntary benchmark of 1.5% for mobile call drops as compared to the regulator’s prescribed norm of 2% under the Quality of Service regulations. Other telecom service operators such as Vodafone India, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications too are taking similar initiatives to improve service quality.

Their moves come after the Supreme Court recently scrapped the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s move to mandate telcos to compensate subscribers for call drops, calling the rule arbitrary, unreasonable and non-transparent.

The telcos led by lobby group Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) had opposed Trai’s rule in court, saying it was unscientific and would put an additional financial burden on an already debt-laden sector.

Prasad, however, said that the quest of Indian consumers for a quality service will continue and it was imperative for service providers to improve their networks.

At the same event, Bharti Infratel Chairman Akhil Gupta said that there has been a renewed focus on self-regulation by telecom operators to ensure Quality of Service (QoS), as it was a concern for service providers as their revenue takes a hit.

Separately, Prasad said the government is currently working on the industry’s long-standing demand of the rationalization of penalties.

Service providers owe the government nearly Rs 2,200 crore in penalties for non-compliance of subscriber verification alone. Telcos during the July 2014 to June 2015 have paid Rs 6 crore in penalties to the regulator for violation of service quality norms.

The government is also focusing on concluding ambitious National Fibre Optic Network (NOFN), renamed as BharatNet, by 2018 that allows a gamut of e-Services across 2,50,000 gram panchayats or village blocks.

“We are hopeful to connect 1 lakh gram panchayats by March 2017 and rest by mid of 2018 with NOFN,” he added.

The Universal Service Obligation or USO-funded project has so far deployed 1,14,220 kilometres of the optic fibre and 50,613 gram panchayats across the country have been connected.

By next March, the postal department will start its payments bank for which it has got in-principle approval. More than 50 private companies including Deutsche Bank and World Bank are keen to partner with the postal department, the minister added.

Jio’s Rs 2,399 annual plan offers 2GB per day data that costs effectively Rs 200 per month. It also offers unlimited voice and SMS. Airtel and Vodafone Idea’s Rs 2398 and Rs 2399 annual plans, on the other hand, offer 1.5GB per day data along with unlimited voice and SMS